Pan-Nordic group buys NextJet operations

A Swedish firm owned by a Norwegian fishing company rename NextJet to Air Scandic, with flights to resume from June 11.

NextJet’s bankrupt estate has been sold to Sweden’s Goldcup, owned by Norway’s Olsen Group, and is to be renamed Air Scandic, Check-in.dk reports.

The Swedish airline NextJet filed for bankruptcy on May 17 and its flights were stopped immediately. But if everything goes according to plan, flights will start again from June 11.

Initially, getting the route going between Stockholm Arlanda and Mariehamn on the Åland Islands will be the priority. The resumption of other routes is expected to take place shortly afterwards.

Based south of Bergen, Olsen Group is active predominantly in the fishing industry, with five vessels combing the waters of the Barents Sea. However, the group of buyers is described by NextJet’s bankruptcy manager as “financially strong” and “capable of capitalising the business to the extent necessary”.

“We are pleased that we have found a buyer for the business and that Mariehamn-Stockholm traffic can be resumed soon,” says the bankruptcy manager, Lars-Henrik Andersson at Advokatfirma Lindahl.

Roles unclear
The site dn.no writes that NextJet has formally been purchased by the Norwegian company NextMove, owned by Ola A Olsen of the Olsen Group.

NextMove has changed its name to Leap to avoid confusion with NextJet. NextMove operates a route between Oslo and Ørland, a tiny airport in central Norway, which is a route that Danish Air Transport (DAT) has been operating.

It remains unclear what role DAT will have during the takeover, as the Danish airline is reported to have had a request to fly the Mariehamn route on an ACMI.

Meanwhile, the little-known Stockholm-based airline Amapola Flyg has been assigned NextJet’s domestic routes between Arlanda and Hemavan, Vilhelmina and Lycksele, a decision made by the Swedish Transport Agency. This temporary contract lasts from July 1 until January 2019.